Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to start when Al-Nassr face Al-Shabab at home in the Saudi Pro League on Tuesday (August 29). The Knights of Najd will want to build on their 5-0 victory over Al-Fateh last time around.
Al-Nassr picked up their first win of the new league season against Al-Fateh and Ronaldo played a huge part in that game. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner netted a hat-trick and provided an assist as Luis Castro’s side dominated the proceedings on Friday (August 25).
Cristiano Ronaldo is his club’s main attacking threat and will be the first name on the team sheet when his side take on Al-Shabab. The Portugal skipper could be partnered alongside Sadio Mane and Abdulrahman Ghareeb to form a three-man attack. The former scored a brace in the 5-0 demolition of Al-Fateh in their previous league outing.
Al-Nassr’s three points saw them climb up to 11th in the Saudi Pro League this season. At the time of writing, they are already seven points behind the league leaders Al-Ittihad but have played a game fewer than the defending champions.
Al-Shabab, on the other hand, are still without a win in the league. They have drawn two and lost one of their three games this season and currently find themselves languishing in 15th place in the standings.
Ronaldo has contributed three goals and two assists from three games across all competitions this season. He did, however, scored six goals from six games in the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, which his team went on to win.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr have already faced Al-Shabab this season
Despite the season still being in its early stages, Cristiano Ronaldo will already be facing against Al-Shabab for the second time. The two sides faced off against one another in the group stage in the recently-concluded Arab Club Champions Cup.
Al-Nassr could only manage a 0-0 draw against their fellow Saudi Arabian outfit back in July. Cristiano Ronaldo did not start the game and instead came off the bench in the second half with 30 minutes remaining.
Ronaldo did try to force the initiative in the game and managed to take three shots in the small cameo he played last month. However, he failed to find the back of the net with two of them not being on target. He was also caught offside on two separate occasions.
Cristiano Ronaldo did face Al-Shabab once in the previous season. Al-Nassr picked up a 3-2 win on that occasion with Ronaldo netting the winning goal on the hour mark. His side came back from 2-0 down to snatch all three points at the Al-Awwal Park.